Lonerider59
Wizard
My position on modifying your motorcycle may fall entirely on deaf ears, maybe a few might pay attention and consider it, or perhaps in twenty or thirty years someone might look back and say thank goodness I listened. I've been riding the street for forty-seven years, I've owned 26 decent motorcycles from the U.S., European, and Asian manufacturers. I've left about ten completely stock, lightly modded about ten, gone bonkers modding two and done the intake/exhaust on four (with maybe some minor metal and paint work. Along my journey I've learned that a completely stock motorcycle will bring much more return on a person's money than anything that's been modified, for street use it will be as good or better than a modified machine and after twenty or thirty years almost everyone will admire it far more than the one that PO's have taken to with their infinite wisdom. The clincher for me has been that the enjoyment level is just the same with a stocker as a modified ride, except if competition is the goal. I admit that if a rider wants to do serious competition then modifying is helpful. I've never competed with any of my bikes so it's a mute question.
Last November I picked up a nice XS Eleven in Minneapolis for what I thought was a great price. It was completely Box Stock exept for a Vetter Windjammer that had been put on sometime in the past (somewhere between 1980 when it was made and November 2011). I got rid of the Windjammer because honestly, I just could't see an XS Eleven Special with a faring. Today the bike is exactly the way it left Japan in 1980. It still makes respectable power and will bury the speedometer. I wouldn't call it a handler because it AIN'T but it is more than fine for crusing the canyons, which I've been doing out here in the Parker, AZ area for the last few weeks and it puts a huge smile on my face when a passer-by asks whet it is and how old is it. When I tell them it's 1 years old they smile and say "wow".
Last November I picked up a nice XS Eleven in Minneapolis for what I thought was a great price. It was completely Box Stock exept for a Vetter Windjammer that had been put on sometime in the past (somewhere between 1980 when it was made and November 2011). I got rid of the Windjammer because honestly, I just could't see an XS Eleven Special with a faring. Today the bike is exactly the way it left Japan in 1980. It still makes respectable power and will bury the speedometer. I wouldn't call it a handler because it AIN'T but it is more than fine for crusing the canyons, which I've been doing out here in the Parker, AZ area for the last few weeks and it puts a huge smile on my face when a passer-by asks whet it is and how old is it. When I tell them it's 1 years old they smile and say "wow".
) For now, anyway, I plan on just keeping my Corbin seats, frame sliders and FDB levers (and maybe a new windscreen) as my biggest mods. (of course, I am really fat and should get suspension mods for my hefty mass, but those rear shocks are sooooooo expensive!)
